...
Afton gave Karl a blank look as they headed north from Camp Searchlight along the highway, towards the nearest town which just so happened to be Novac. "How did you make this happen?" he asks in exasperation.
Karl shrugs, "I have no idea what you could mean?" he says, stifling a grin.
Afton just gestures behind them at the four sorry-looking NCR soldiers who were carrying their five backpacks full of loot.
...
"So, I might have offered Sargeant Astor a way out of our agreement. May have also let him know that I have contacts with some NCR higherups due to my former rank."
Afton raises a brow at the man, "You do?"
Karl shakes his head, "Not anymore, those shit-stains dropped me like a pregnancy test when I was imprisoned. But Astor didn't have to know that, did he?"
Afton nods, "I guess... If you didn't get their help I don't think we could've gotten all our loot to Novac anyway...
The four NCR soldiers were named Avery, Jacob, and Daniel respectively. All were new recruits and had only shot at feral ghouls up until now. This made Afton feel a little better about forcing them to carry their bags, they wouldn't be much good in a fight anyway.
"Any idea on what to do when we get to Novac?"
Karl spits on the ruined road nonchalantly, "No idea. Take a few more jobs, get caps, then try and head for New Vegas... We need gear enough to do what we want, Gunrunners'll probably have what we need." he mutters.
Afton raises a brow, "We both have several thousand caps, surely that'll be enough to buy whatever we need?"
Karl just scoffs at him, "No chance, for the best gear you gotta be willing to pay an arm and a leg. Our combined caps wouldn't even pay for a single top-grade weapon, let alone gear for the both of us."
The group continue walking along the highway, making small talk with the already exhausted soldiers while the duo keep an eye out for danger. Though, both Karl and Afton were surprised when something whizzed past their heads.
Both immediately throw themselves behind a nearby car wreckage, their four bag-holders doing the same behind a large rock.
"An ambush!?" Afton quickly asks Karl, having not noticed any signs of one.
Karl shakes his head, "No, worse."
What could be worse than an ambush?... "A deathclaw!?" he exclaims in fright..
The former-ranger just smacks him, "Hell no! You don't see me runnin' do yeah? That's what I'd do if I saw one charging me!... No, over there on the top of the hill near the campsite ruins, a swarm of Bloatflies."
...
Afton gives him a confused look, "Bloatflies? Aren't they like, really easy to deal with.", though, upon asking this he receives a fierce glare.
"Who the fuck told you that? Do you know how hard it is to hit a flying, moving target that constantly shoots back with acidic poison shit? Not to mention there's around fifteen of 'em, I'd rather fight a Legion patrol singlehandedly!"
Afton takes a glance over the car and spots that there is indeed fifteen Bloatflies slowly making their way towards the duo, all the while firing a barrage of acidic bullets. They don't seem to be able to harm the wrecked car they were hiding behind, but they'd eventually reach their position.
[John Wick Style is in effect]
He used VATS to make sure he wasn't at risk of any projectiles before shooting Lucky at them. Strangely the flies immediately started performing aerial manoeuvres when he pointed his gun at them, causing two of his four shots to miss. The two Bloat flies that were hit exploded into yellow blood and gore though.
"You four stay put! Don't peek you head out unless you want a ghoul makeover!" he shouts to their bag-holders. It wouldn't due for one of them to die... He didn't think they could carry all the bags on their own.
"Aye, Aye Capt'in" One shouts in response, somehow finding the courage to make a joke in this situation.
"What I wouldn't do for some bug-spray right about now." he mutters to himself as he continues popping over for an instant, using VATS and firing off a few shots before ducking back into cover.
Fortunately after Afton had picked a few off, Karl was able to find a chance to assist and eventually, all of them were knocked out of the air. The calibre bullets that the duo were using had reduced all of the flies to mush so even if there was something to loot from them, it was destroyed now.
The NCR soldiers look at bit rattled from it, but they'd been in combat before and would eventually recover. For now though the group had to keep moving, Astor may have reluctantly lent his troops, but he'd need them back relatively soon. Best not to ruin the cordial relationship they had with the man. Especially since the man had offered some very interesting information about Cottonwood Cove, the Legions hold on the West of the Colorado, as well as their main slave transportation.
Apparently, it wasn't just Camp Searchlight that had a problem with radioactive materials... One of the trucks that held the material had been lost on its way to Camp Searchlight before the Great War. That truck was currently located on the top of the hill overlooking the Legion's slave camp.
All they needed to do was sneak over, unlock it and dump all the contents on the Legion's head... The reason they hadn't immediately jumped at the chance were many, the first being that this would undoubtedly kill any slaves held in the camp... Now, Afton wouldn't mind the casualties but Karl's daughter might be down there, not to mention it'd strike too close to home to do something like that.
The second reason was that they didn't want to put the Legion on their toes, right now the duo were nothing but Mercs to them. But if they released the radiation on the camp Astor would have to report back to higher command, there the Legion spies would find out who's responsible and mark them for death. Something neither needs right now.
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That didn't mean that Afton wouldn't eventually make use of the radioactive material... They just needed to get a couple things outta the way before they did it. He couldn't imagine how valuable it would be to the NCR if they irradiated the Legions only foothold onto this side of the Colorado.
Perhaps they'd even forgive him for brutally murdering the Ranger who killed his mother?... Then again, probably not.
The group continued on their journey, running into yet another group of Viper raiders. They were quickly dispatched though, [John Wick Style] and VATS made for a deadly combination.
Eventually though the group spotted the huge green dinosaur that marked Novac's location. Upon getting closer Afton and Karl could spot someone with a hunting rifle in the mouth of the dinosaur. It made a pretty good lookout to be honest, so even if it did look rather stupid, it was effective nonetheless.
The town itself was just a motel surrounded by a wall, though there were a few residential homes that had relatively fertile farms growing next to them.
The entrance to Novac was a simple gate that leads to the front of the motel where most residents presumably lived. Afton couldn't help but get choked up by what he saw though, the sign "Novac", was actually just a hotel sign that previously said "No vacancies", with half of the letters having fallen off.
Directly opposite the entrance were a few tents, a woman wearing a white shirt with bloodstains seemed to be applying bandages to someone, while a few others were peddling goods they had. All in all, it looked like the most prosperous town he'd ever seen in this new world.
Karl looked to the four NCR soldiers and nodded at them, "Thanks for your work boys, send my gratitude... And let him know that we'll consider his 'plan' when me and the kid are fully kitted out."
They nod and after taking a small break, start heading back to Camp Searchlight. Afton and Karl heft the bags and make their way over to the trader under the tent. They seemed confused when the duo dropped five overloaded bags at their feet, but quickly put two and two together after a moment.
Afton left the bartering to Karl as he was almost useless at it... His intervention might actually make their loot worth less than it if he'd just stayed quiet, so he waited patiently as the former-ranger negotiated with the trader.
In the end, they sold a large amount of Chems, but weren't able to pawn off all of the weaponry they'd scavenged...
Afton looks to Karl, "What should we do with all this? We can't exactly take it around with us..."
"Don't worry about it, me and the trader made a deal, we'd keep hold of the gear and they'd go around some settlements to see if anyone is in need of a large number of guns. They'll be back in a couple weeks so we'll stick around til then."
Afton nods, that's what they were planning to do anyway, sticking around to do any jobs that may be available. They still had three and a half bags worth of loot still left to sell so it was best they get rid of it before moving on.
Still, the 1500 caps that earned from the Chems and few guns the sold were pretty good. Due to Karl having personally bartered for it Afton took 700 caps while his partner took 800.
"I'm going to see if there're any spare rooms over in the motel, I'd rather not be camping outside when there are rooms available."
Afton nods, "I'll go see if that medic over there would pay for me to help them out. " they separate and he heads towards the tent where the medic seems to be operating on someone.
Upon closer inspection Afton was shocked to see the state the patient was in though, they were laying across a makeshift table as the woman rifled around a wound with dirty-looking tweezers.
"N-now, just hold still. Pain is good for your health you know!" She says, trying to calm the poor man who looked to be in agony.
"The fuck is going on here? Did you even give him any pain killers?" Afton quickly asks upon seeing such a botched procedure.
...
The woman's eyes light up as she looks down at the now crying man, "Oh, my bad! I forgot all about that." she says before jabbing the man with something which causes them to go silent.
...
Afton looks at the Chem she'd given him and gapes at it, this isn't a pain killer, it's a chemical that causes paralysis! One that can potentially be poisonous to the wrong person. Without thinking he shoves the woman away, not bothering to take notice of the guards who raised their weapons towards him.
He rifles through his Deathclaw leather satchel and pulls out some antiseptic and his own tweezers. But the looks of it this was a procedure to remove a lodged bullet, and it'd been going badly by the profuse amount of blood pouring from the wound.
With relatively good precision he gently pushes the tweezer deeper into the wound until he feels it contact something hard and metallic. "Bingo." he mutters as he struggles to grip and pull it out. He eventually managed it though. Looking at the piece of lead to check if it'd fractured at all before dumping it on the floor.
The man who he was operating on seemed to be looking at him gratefully, it was hard to tell though due to them not being able to move with the exception of their eyes. While they might be paralysed, they could still feel pain, so him finishing the procedure as quickly as possible was the best they could've hoped for.
Afton applies some alcoholic gauze to the wound before wrapping it in a bandage, turning his glare to the woman who could've potentially killed the man.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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